Biogeography Field Trip at McCauley Butte

The past two Saturdays, the Montana Master Naturalist classes took a field trip up to McCauley Butte, a prominent Missoula landmark owned by one of MNHC's board members, Mindy Goldberg, and her husband, Stuart.  Stuart's business, Northern Lights Development, has placed conservation easements on most of this land (read more here).

Mindy and Stuart met us at the property, and we hiked to the top--a rather leisurely hike, as we had to stop and identify wildflowers, insects, and birds along the way!

Oh, yes, and rocks, too.  All of the rocks on McCauley Butte are sedimentary, as guest lecturer Greg Peters points out.

Stuart took the time to give us a brief history of this landmark, as well as share some of the future plans for this unique piece of land.

As we hiked up the hill, we stopped to notice the lovely little woodland stars (Lithophragma parviflorum)--aptly named!

There were also many of the bright little shooting stars (Dodecatheon pauciflorum):

as well as buttercups (Ranunculus glaberrimus):

and some tiny little draba (Draba verna):

We also saw several birds, including an osprey pair in the midst of adding to their nest, red-tailed hawks soaring out over the valley, and the lovely western meadowlark, with its beautiful song.

It was a cloudy, breezy, but warmish day, and the views were spectacular!

We learned about the geologic history of the Missoula Valley, and were able to see the Glacial Lake Missoula lines on Mt. Sentinel and Mt. Jumbo, as well as a birds'-eye view of our beautiful valley!

We were very grateful to Stuart and Mindy for sharing their beautiful space with us.

The sun peeked through at the end of the day, a lovely benediction and reminder of spring.

Not Just Another Mallard

. . . although this is not to say that I don't like mallards.  The glossy green feathers on the male are strikingly beautiful, no less so because it's a common species.

But until two weeks ago, and our Master Naturalist Class visit with expert birder Larry Weeks to the ponds at Smurfit-Stone, I had no idea what a spectacular variety of waterfowl we have here in western Montana.

It was a cold, blustery day (so windy, in fact, that our eyes teared up while we tried to look through our binoculars, and the spotting scopes shook in the gusts and nearly fell over once or twice), but birders, I am learning, don't let paltry things like wind, cold, snow, rain, hail, etc., keep them from their naturalist duty.  Despite the challenges, we were able to see and identify more than 20 bird species.

Until this field trip, I tended to look at a flock of waterfowl on a pond or river and think, "Oh, it's just a bunch of ducks."  I.e., they're all the same.  Little did I know.

Species we saw:
Canada goose
Northern Pintail (see below)

Gadwall
American Wigeon (see below)

Eurasian Wigeon
Northern Shoveler
Green-winged Teal (see below)

Lesser Scaup
Ring-necked Duck (see below)

Canvasback
Redhead (see below)

Bufflehead (see below)

American Coot
And . . . oh, yes, the Mallard!

Mountain Bluebirds

Last week the Master Naturalist Class took an excursion to Waterworks Hill to look (and listen) for birds.  We saw several common Montana species:  American robins, northern flickers, dark-eyed juncos, black-billed magpies, and spotted towhees.  Instructor Brian Williams heard the call of a mountain bluebird and saw it fly away in the distance, but the untrained ears and eyes of the students were too slow to pick up on it.  In lieu of having seen the bird, I decided to do a little research, find a few pictures, and share some bluebird facts here.

We in Western Montana know and love these bright bits of bird blue that come our way in the springtime. Well-named are those perfect, sunny, blue-sky days we call "bluebird days"!

Mountain Bluebirds (Sialia currucoides) are members of the thrush family, and are medium-sized songbirds with a large, round head, chunky body, medium-length tail, and sky-blue feathers.  The males in particular stand out, with the bright blue color covering head, body, wings, and tail.  Females are a duller color, a greyish-blue overall, with pale sky-blue coloring only on their wings, rump, and tail.  In general, it is the males that catch our attention, perhaps because they seem almost impossibly blue.  I always forget how richly blue they are, and am surprised, every year, by their vividness.  

Mountain bluebirds can be found in open areas and grasslands with scattered trees and bushes, such as agricultural areas and prairie-forest habitats.  Their ability to live in open spaces makes them unusual in the thrush family, and helps them increase their population when humans clear land or raise grazing animals.  They eat small fruits and insects, which they catch by hovering above their prey and dropping rapidly down to the ground, or by perching and flycatching insects from mid-air.  

The females lay 4-8 eggs in nests built of grasses lined with soft bark, hair, or feathers, located in cavities in trees or snags, or in human-made nest boxes.  The mountain bluebird's propensity for using nest boxes has made it a fairly easy subject for field research, but has resulted in most of that research being done on nest-box rather than natural mountain bluebird populations.


This bird's summer range extends north-south from Alaska to Arizona and east-west from western Nebraska to California, while in the winter it can be found from Colorado and Nebraska down into central Mexico.  It can be found year-round (though populations differ from summer to winter) from central Oregon to northern Arizona and New Mexico.  In western Montana, we can look for the mountain bluebird to return in early to mid-March.  In other words, now!

When you're out hiking in mountain bluebird habitat, listen for the series of low burry whistles of its song, or the clear, mellow "feeer" or "perf" whistle of its call.  You can listen to both sounds here.  Happy bluebirding!

Master Naturalist Tracking Field Day

This past Saturday a group of Master Naturalist students piled into one of MNHC's mini school buses and headed northwest to Seeley Lake.  We were armed with hot tea, lunch, and our naturalist tools:  journals, pens, measuring tapes, binoculars, guidebooks.  We met up with Adam Lieberg from Northwest Connections for an introduction to the complexities of tracking.  We learned to look at:

1) Habitat--certain animals are associated with certain habitats

2) Gait Patterns--a collection of individual tracks over a long distance; discerning the patterns helps identify animal families

3) Track Characteristics--looking at track specifics on a small scale to determine species

And then . . . we went outside to test and expand our new-found knowledge.  

The first tracks we saw were widely spaced across a clearing.  We measured a 44" stride--the distance from where one footprint appears in a trail to the next point that a footprint is made by the same foot.

We determined they were coyote tracks in direct register, that is, the hind feet were placed in exactly the same print as the front feet.  Direct registering helps animals conserve energy when walking in deep snow.

Coyotes are generalists:  they can be found in many habitats (forest, riparian, wilderness, and even urban).  

Coyotes are both bold and curious--they will go directly through open ares (such as this clearing), but will also investigate brush piles, fallen logs, and other nooks and crannies.

As walking coyote strides generally measure between 28" and 34", we determined that this one was trotting, most likely keeping a good pace in order to get through the unprotected clearing, which was also very near to human-made structures. 

We learned that canine tracks are symmetrical, with the second and third toes much farther from the pad than the first and fourth toes, creating a print that is longer than it is wide.  The claws (especially the outer ones) do not always show.  Adam taught us that looking for claw marks is not necessarily the best way to determine an animal's family, as canid claws do not always show, while feline claws may occasionally be present.

One way to distinguish a canine print from a feline one is to look for the "volcano," the cone-shaped mound between the toe and pad prints (see it sticking up in the middle?): 

We also learned that one can draw an "x" between the toes and pad of a canine print,

             
which cannot be done with a feline print, due to the larger size of the pad and wider arc of the toes (as evidenced by this mountain lion print):

We were thrilled to be able to test these examples in the field--after studying the coyote tracks, we moved into the edge of the mixed-conifer forest and encountered none other than the remarkably clear tracks of a mountain lion(!), which we tried, unsuccessfully, to follow through the underbrush.  We finally found the tracks again when we moved through the forest to the edge of Seeley Lake.  

On our way through the forest and along the frozen surface of the lake, we saw several other sets of tracks:  red squirrel, snowshoe hare, ruffed grouse, and mink, as well as a beaver mound.  

Despite the lack of fresh snow, we saw plenty of fresh tracks, and we all agreed that we'd had a great day!  Next time, perhaps we'll see more than tracks . . . 

The spring 2010 Montana Master Naturalist Course is beginning, and 25 eager students are setting out to learn about the natural history of western Montana. They will learn to look, to see, to ask questions, to find answers. They will make note of the birds and trees and insects they see. They are beginning (or continuing!) a journey of exploration and discovery, and we look forward to their insights and observations, some of which will be noted here.